Tommy stood on the street opposite the smouldering remnants of a shop at the corner of Baker Street and North Mount Street in northwest Baltimore. You could taste and smell the smoking debris in the air before you could see it.

The cornershop in the Sandtown neighbourhood was one of the many casualties of a night of rioting and racial unrest on Monday that followed the funeral of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old African-American who died on April 19th after being injured in mysterious circumstances while in police custody. He was arrested not far this burnt-out shop on April 12th before he fell into a coma as a result of his injuries.

Gray’s death, which led to the suspension of six police officers, is being investigated by law enforcement as they try to find how the young black man’s spine was severed while he was in detention.

Such violent responses are commonplace now and Baltimore joins Ferguson, Missouri; Staten Island, New York; and North Charleston, South Carolina as locations that have become synonymous with police brutality by white officers involved in the killing of unarmed black men.

“My biggest concern is the children and them being traumatised by this,” said Tommy, pointing to two houses next to the shop that caught fire from the blaze. There were young children living there, she said.

Baltimore firefighters worked hard in the early hours of yesterday morning to extinguish the blaze.

Protecting firefighters

A short time after the fire ladders extended above the building, a cordon was tied around lampposts. Heavily armed police officers later arrived with semi-automatic weapons to protect the fire crews.

Rick Hoffman, president of Baltimore’s firefighters’ union, said Monday night was “probably the worst night” he had seen. Some residents stabbed the wire hoses, cutting their water supply, he said.

"We have had at least a dozen fires. People we have sworn an oath to protect are getting in our way and keeping us from doing our job," an exasperated Hoffman told The Irish Times.

Two blocks away broken glass crunched under foot and the air was filled with the stench of smoke and strong alcohol, the smashed leftovers on the street from a looting raid on a local liquor store.

The security door on another shop was mangled by another failed looting attempt on North Fulton Avenue as police in riot gear formed a line at the top of the block in an attempt to restore some kind of order.

As daylight broke yesterday, the city started the clean-up and began counting the cost of one of the worst nights of violence in a city that is just 64km from America’s seat of power.

At the White House, President Barack Obama condemned the violence, saying there was "no excuse" for the looting and arson. "They're not protesting, they're not making a statement, they're stealing," he said in a press conference with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, using an international engagement to address the domestic policing issues that plague his administration.

Soul searching

Mr Obama said that recent incidents of excessive force by police “raised troubling questions” and he urged law enforcement officers and local communities across the country to come together.

“We as a country have to do some soul searching,” he said.

Hundreds of additional law enforcement personnel from the national guard and from police forces in neighbouring states started policing Baltimore’s streets to prevent a repeat of Monday’s violence.

Called up by Maryland governor Larry Hogan after he declared a state of emergency in the majority African-American city at the request of the mayor, the 500 national guardsmen, dressed in military uniforms and armed with rifles, were deployed on the city's streets to help bolster Baltimore's police force, which struggled to cope with Monday's mayhem.

There were almost 200 arrests and roughly 150 fires across the city, according to the office of Baltimore’s mayor, while 15 police officers were injured, including six who were hospitalised.

Local African-African resident Leo Jones was fuming with rage over the racial inequities in his hometown that spilled over into violence.

“Oppression breeds resistance. This is your only way out – resistance. It is a f**ked-up city; it is kill or be killed,” he said.